The 2012 Game Plan

Funny how some things develop. I wrote Along Came a Demon as a fun little novella, with the idea I’d do a sequel only if anyone was interested. Somewhat to my surprise, they were interested, they wanted more. So I planned a four-book series. Now, people are asking what happens next.

Next up will be Demon on a Distant Shore, wherein Royal and Tiff investigate a missing-person case in England. They take a break from Bel-Athaer, Gelpha and Dark Cousins. The idea for the book came when I was eating lunch with my family in a local Wiltshire pub in England. I had steak and kidney pudding, sister enjoyed steak and ale pie, while Mum noshed toad-in-the-hole. I wondered how Tiff would react to seeing these foods on a menu when she had no idea of the ingredients, and that led me to think about culture shock. I certainly experienced it when I came to the States. I had very clichéd ideas of American life, which were quickly destroyed soon after I arrived, and Tiff was raised in small-town mid-west where Americans think they know about life in the UK from watching programs such as Fawlty Towers, Absolutely Fabulous and Keeping Up Appearances. There’s a lot of silliness in Demon on a Distant Shore, but also murder, mystery and mayhem.

I’m also venturing into short stories. I heard writing shorts is difficult, and by golly they are. No sooner do you get deep into a character’s psyche, you have to leave them and go on to the next. It’s like ripping out a part of you. You can’t do as much world-building. You can’t spend time mapping out a character’s full history. You have to leave a lot to the reader’s imagination, and hope you gave them enough to make their imagination flow.

Coming spring 2012, Femme Fatales is unlike anything I have written before. The short stories are fantasy on a future earth. Yeah yeah, I know, been there done that. But although they are populated by trolls, vampires, angels, harpies and gargoyles, I don’t think you’ll have seen anything quite like them before. I hope not, anyway.

One of the advantages of publishing as an Independent is that I see sales as they happen, so I want to send a huge thank you to everyone who’s jumping in to get the Demon Demon Burning Bright e-book. And for those who prefer paperback, it’s finally here, available from Amazon.com. Wohoo!